The weekly Daley: Lots of things to be thankful for

I’m very thankful that I don’t live in the Gaza Strip, Afghanistan or Ciudad Juarez just to name a few places that I’d consider unfit for human habitation. Add Egypt and Syria, both of which have way too much sand for my taste and anywhere that’s colder than it is here.

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I’m thankful that I’m such a lightweight consumer that I couldn’t even imagine going Christmas shopping Thanksgiving night. I don’t know anyone who needs anything that badly — to take me out of the warm, cozy cocoon of home and hearth to do battle with screaming hordes of Walmart shoppers — or shoppers anywhere else for that matter. People have actually died under thousands of human feet galloping in to get a Black Friday bargain.

It’s good to still be “upright, above ground and breathing,” as the saying goes. I’m pretty thankful for that, though I wouldn’t mind having a few more of my original teeth. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

Being able to drink water that’s safe and pure is something I never get tired of being thankful for, as I’ve said many times. That along with knowing that you can send just about anything of value through the U.S. mail with a mighty assurance that it will arrive, intact, where it’s supposed to arrive, intact.

I’m quite thankful that voters recently sent some real knotheads back under the rocks from which they crawled. You can pick and choose whomever you want to put in that category.

The price of gas has been dropping lately to an almost unimaginable $3.70 or a little less. Thanks to whoever is responsible for that, and let’s not see that get out of control again, shall we?

Despite dire warnings and predictions, we’ve not had an Apocalypse or an Armageddon or a crush of Americans fleeing to Canada to escape the much-touted horrors resulting from Barack Obama’s re-election. I’m thankful for that, but I wonder what’s next on the doomsayers’ agenda. Invasion of the Body Snatchers? A plague of Rapture Reality shows? An outbreak of Yaws and the actual, final and irrevocable demise of Twinkies?

I visited New York City this past summer for the first time in almost 60 years. I’m really thankful to have gone in July instead of waiting until November. I’ll say that again!

Other than forgetting my NewEra Giants cap on the Ellis Island Ferry, it was a totally excellent week. The only other time I was there, my father and I ate most of our meals at the “Automats.” They aren’t there anymore, or if they are, I didn’t see them. To an 8 or 9-year old, the automats were like an early version of Disneyland. You’d put money in a slot and out came a ham sandwich or a meatloaf dinner. Put it in another slot and a piece of pie was delivered. It was like getting mail at your post office box. I’m thankful to have had that goofy experience.

I’m thankful that I and mine are mostly found along a spectrum ranging from “not too bad,” to “pretty darn good.” Total “suckiness” isn’t defining anyone’s life at the moment. Of course we know that can change in a heartbeat or lack thereof. And assuming the best on this day after Thanksgiving, the big event at our house yesterday went off without any more than 10 or 12 hitches. Happy holiday!